Behind The Screens: Ben 10 Edition
by SkyLarBonds2077
Summary: In the same style of the E! True Hollywood Stories, this is a look at what happened behind the scenes of Ben 10, as Ben, Gwen and Ken battle the demons of being child actors in the television industry.
1. Chapter 1

Behind The Screens: Ben 10

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Ben 10 series. They are the property of Cartoon Network and Man Of Action. However, all unfamiliar characters (Ben's agent, Monty Carson, who is supposed to be Ben's childhood friend) are ones I've created for this story. And any additional info I put in this story on the characters and the events surrounding them are unnofficial (Example; Ben's birthdate or full name) and not considered canon, for dramatics (Example; Ken being Ben's younger brother), so don't take them too serious.The "Delphi County" area in Chicago is fictious as I have made this up for the story. Thank you and enjoy.

Introduction:

In 2005, Cartoon Network debuted a fresh new cartoon named Ben 10, which centered around a 10-year old boy named Ben Tennyson, who can shift into various alien forms with a device named the Omnitrix and save the world. Two years later, the series turn into a big hit, and with a new series due out in 2008 focusing on an older Ben, continue to attract many new fans. But what happened behind the scenes and before then is the side of the show you never knew about. He has dealt with living in a racially-divided neighborhood, being the subject of the public's judgement, and on-screen confrontations with his younger brother Ken. Witness what went on Behind The Screens of Ben 10.

Chapter I: Not-So-Humble Beginings:

Before Ben was known as Ben Tennyson, he was born Benjamin Allen Gillette on June 25th, 1992 in Chicago, IL. During his early years growing up in Chicago, he took a huge interest in music and theatre. He begin acting in stage plays in his schools and taking homeschooled voice lessons.

"One thing that the fans don't know about Ben is that he loves to sing", says Carl Gillette, Ben's on-screen and real-life father. "He would walk around the house singing. He even used to sing while doing chores."

Ben's vocal ability were impressive for a 9-year old. His vocal skills were very versatile, shifting into either the voice of a Rock vocalist or a voice just as soulful as an R&B artist, thanks to his family's tradition of learning about different cultures, even in the culturally-divided suburbian area they were living in named Delphi County . "My parents taught me at an early age to learn about other cultures and other people", says Ben, "so when I was taught music, I studied everybody. Aerosmith, Boyz II Men, Beethoven, and countless others. I'm very versatile. I pretty much like all music, and my style heavilly reflects that."

However, his family's ability to learn about other cultures didn't sit well with the locals in their neighborhood. In the fall of 2001, during a talent show, 9-year old Ben sang a rendition of New Edition's 1988 hit, "Can You Stand The Rain" along with two other talented classmates and was booed because of his choice of song. "I grew up in Delphi County, which was a racially-divided neighborhood in Chicago", said Ben, "so they really didn't take well my singing style. I had a soulful voice, so people would claim that I was trying to sound 'Black'." The harrassments didn't end there. Ben was quickly a new target for a lot of bullies, both of African-American and Caucasian races, at his school because of his tolerance towards other races, and became victimized on a daily basis. "Benny had to hide in garbage cans and lockers between classes since he was small enough to fit", Monty Carson, Ben's childhood friend says. "It was terrible. He was so paranoid that he had to go incognito in order to make it to his classes. I remember there was once incident where some kids took Benny in the bathroom and tried to give him a swirly in a broken toilet bowl and ended up almost killing him doing it. They left his head in the bowl so long that Benny was starting to drown, and the toilet couldn't flush, and instead overflowed. I had to pump the water out of him and the principal came in, saw me pumping the water out of Benny, and thought that I beat him up and drowned him in the toilet bowl. I ended up getting suspended for trying to save Benny's life."

Due to being involved in countless incidents involving racial tension in his school, his family was on the move, this time relocating to Richmond, VA when Ben was 10 years old. This time, adjusting to a new school came easier for Ben since it was more peaceful, quickly going back to stage plays. While playing the role of a vulnerable homeless kid, a talent scout spotted him and quickly cast him in the starring role of Elliot in a New York broadway version of the classic 1982 film "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial". "After this, I thought to myself, 'This is what I want to do. I am so becoming an actor'." His first stint as a star proved to be a bittersweet one for Ben, however. Although he had critical success as Elliot, he later began being typecast in sensitive and vulnerable roles while trying out for TV and movie roles. During exhausting role searching, and being turned down numerous times, Ben was only offered to play roles of vulnerable characters, and the stress Ben was subject to finally began to take its toll, and may have even helped him get his own show.

During the Spring of 2004, while auditioning for the main role of a kid who finds an shape-shifting device named the Omnitrix, he was originally turned down, because he didn't seem believable as a bratty little kid, and that he seemed too nice to actually play the part. Feeling like he was being typecast again, Ben's stress level hit the roof and he began to berate the producer and casting staff. "I came in, read my part, and they said that they have seen my past performances on TV. Because of that, I guess they thought that I couldn't play a kid with an attitude, saying that I was too nice or something like that. I'm normally mild-mannered, but that day I was already pent-up wtih stress, and I went off on the producers like, 'How can you stupid little peabrains say that I'm too nice for this role?! I've had to hear that crap 30 times a week already!!! Do I look nice now, huh?! Shouting at the top of my lungs?!'. I yelled at them for about one more minute and they fell silent for about 30 seconds. I thought to myself, 'I'm in biiiig trouble'...and then the show's producer cracked a smile, chuckled and said, 'That's it! That's our star!' "

Suddenly, it turned into Ben developing his own show. Originally named ShapeShifter, the working title quickly became Ben 10, and the main character, who was originally named Brendan Griffin, was renamed after Ben's stage name, in which he chose to be credited as Ben Tennyson. "I hated my last name", smiled Ben. "It sounded like a girl's name, and Tennyson was something I had just made up." Immediately, Ben reached out to his family to also be in the show and while most loved the opportunity to appear on television, not everyone was thrilled. Ben's grandfather Max never had any desire to become an actor as he was happily content with his current occupation as a plumber. "I balked at being in front of a television camera, or for any matter, any camera", sighed Max Gillette, Ben's grandfather. "I loved my current job too much to turn Hollywood. And plus, I hate being recorded or having pictures taken of me. I guess you can say I'm camera shy." Fortunately, Ben somehow talked his real-life grandfather into playing his on-screen grandfather on the show. "They tried to get other actors to play my cousin and my grandfather, but I felt more comfortable having my real family with me", says Ben. "I'm not standoffish or anything, but it's just that my family are really close-knit, and they based the characters on my family. I wanted to be more authentic like, 'Yes, they're my real family off-screen'. The only thing different between my character and I was that he was a little more smart-mouthed than the real me, and that he was 10 years old and I was 3 years older. I still fit the part of a 10-year old physically, though, so it worked out."

Little did anyone know, Ben 10 became an instant hit when it debuted on Cartoon Network during the fall of 2005, and a new star was born, but without more headaches.

In Chapter II, you will learn what really happened when the cameras stopped rolling; Gwen's bout with eating disorders, how puberty caused Ben to lose his starring role only to later portray a villian named Kevin 11, and his rivalry with his younger brother Ken, who wound up being his replacement. Coming soon...


	2. Chapter 2

Behind The Screens: Ben 10

By Calvin Gardner

Chapter II: Trials and Tribulations

During the fall of 2005, Ben 10 became a new part of the Cartoon Network lineup and instant became a smash hit. Memorabillia baring Ben's likenesses quickly surfaced, and Ben quickly became a hot commodity. Making around $600,000 an episode, Ben and his family were sitting on top of the world. But the money and fame couldn't make the upcoming problems of the Tennyson family go away. If anything, it seemed to make things worse. After Ben's 14th birthday in 2006, Ben began to go through minor changes. However, after filming his TV movie "The Secret Of The Omnitrix", Ben went through more dramatic changes, hitting a growth spurt of 8 inches and his voice beginning to change. "I was begining to look less than a kid and more like a teenager", said Ben of his puberty. "I mean, one minute I'm standing roughly 4'6" and the next I'm like 5'2" tall. One minute my voice is pre-pubescent like and the next it becomes deeper. Because I could no longer retain a kid-like appearance, I was let go by the producers." In the Summer of 2006, production of the 2nd season of Ben 10 was halted as Ben was going through puberty, and the producers panicked. One producer even thought of cancelling the series altoghether. Eventually, they went on the search for the new Ben Tennyson and found Ben's younger brother Ken, who is 4 years younger. Production picked back up and the 2nd season aired without fans knowing that Ben was replaced. Thus became animosity behind the scenes between Ben and his younger brother.

"It was terrible", Gwen says, Ben's cousin. "My cousin would always act like such a doofus towards Ken. I think he was just jealous that Ken took his place."

Ben also had some ideas for his character that were turned away that he feels was Ken's fault as well. "In the 'Secret Of The Omnitrix' TV movie, it was my idea for my character to realize how selfish and stubborn he was. I wanted him to still act his age, but at the same time be mature enough to want to sincerely help people. But then my stupid brother stepped in and because of his spoiled attitude, they decided to write my character into being just as obnoxious as he already was when I played him!"

Daily, Ken and Ben would get into intense sibling rivalry, with one incident escalating out of hand during the filming of an episode where Ben was eventually cast as a villian named Kevin 11 during his later appearances. During a tense scene between the two, as soon as the camera stopped rolling, Ken made fun of Ben losing his main role to him, and boasted that he can, in his own words, "portray Ben Tennyson better than the original one". Ben lost his temper and hit Ken in the face, and the two engaged in an intense brawl. Security staff had to separate the scrappy young brothers from each other. Ken left with a broken nose and Ben was instantly painted as a real-life villian by the public after the off-screen fracas, recorded by Gwen via cameraphone, was released to millions of fans through YouTube, which was quickly known over the world-wide-web as "The Bengate Incident". "You know, my cousin can be a major dweeb sometimes", sighed Ben about the incident. "She's such a tell-all, putting everyone's business out in the public. After that incident, fans acted standoffish towards me and began to think that I was just an egotistical loser who was jealous. And yes, I was jealous of Ken for taking my role, but people didn't know why. After that whole 'Bengate' fiasco, people on the message boards on the internet would leave rude comments about me, saying 'Ben's such a douchebag' and stuff like that."

Ben was also the subject of false fan encounters as well, and states that it might have been a conspiracy to further tarnish his image. "After the 'Bengate' incident, all these people came out of the woodwork, making up stories claiming that they have met me", says Ben, "to further slander my image. People I have never met claimed to have met me and that I have been rude to them. I've been judged ever since I took this role because of my character's personality and I've always been a very nice person. I am nice to my fans and will do absolutely anything for them. I just want to say to my fans that I am in fact a nice person and to not judge a person because of his personal issues."

Grandpa Max concurs. "Ben has gone through so much ever since he has pursued an acting career. First he had to go through typecasting and now this. He was depressed and angry because the role that made him suddenly broke him. I have known him every since he was a baby and unlike some elements of his 'Ben Tennyson' character, he is an openly kind-hearted, thoughtful and polite young man, and I don't like that people fabricate the truth especially when they don't even know him. I do feel sorry for Ben because my younger grandson Ken is actually the one who's rude to fans."

Grandpa Max has gone on record to say that Ken pretends to act nice for his fans to help his public relations go up, but that in actuality, he's the arrogant, ungrateful one in this dysfunctional family. Grandpa Max recalled one incident where he, Ben and Ken were attending a meet-and-greet for a 2007 cartoon convention in Baltimore, MD with Ken getting into an incident involving a mentally-challenged fan. "This young man, I believe he had autism or Asperger's Syndrome. He was mentally challenged and it showed. His speech was slurred and he was making various hand movements, and he was one of the biggest fans of the Ben 10 show. Ken pretended to act nice towards him and after his back was turned, he made fun of him, mimicking his hand gestures and speech impediment. The young man saw Ken making fun of him behind his back and began to cry and Ben had to go over and console him."

Grandpa Max also alledges that while Ben appeared more humble, quiet and out-of-the-way, Ken acted like a prima donna on-set, especially after he appeared after himself in the episode, "Ken 10". "If things weren't to his liking, Ken would throw huge temper tantrums. Ever since he appeared as himself in the 'Ken 10' episode, his arrogance has elevated ten-fold. In fact, most of Ken's attitude inspired the writers to make his character as Ben to become even more of a stubborn smart-aleck than he already was."

As a way to escape, Ben decided to make a retreat to his first love; Music. During late-2006, he signed with Elevated Records and released a single named "Shine", but in spite of the single's success on the Billboard Urban/R&B charts, Ben was ultimately unhappy with his deal. "I was considered as a falsetto-range artist, so the CEO wanted to turn me into a Justin Timberlake carbon copy to sell records", says Ben of his deal with Elevated Records, visibly annoyed. "I didn't feel that the record that the CEO wanted me to put together represented me as a person. I mean, I've made enough money doing my TV show, I didn't care about money in the music industry as much as the CEO did." His self-titled debut album, which was planned for a March 2007 release, was shelved indefinately when Ben opted out of his contract with Elevated Records due to creative differences. "The difference was this", Ben explains, cynically. "I wanted to be creative, they didn't. I wanted to write depth into my songs and be conscious with my lyrics, but the CEO wanted nothing but club hits and a bunch of love ballads."

After his falling out with Elevated Records, Ben grew depressed and anti-social, hiding in his trailer during episode shoots. "He didn't want to talk to anybody", says Gwen. "He didn't even bother to make fun of me like he used to. He would just snap at people every time they tried to talk to him. It was a hard time for all of us." According to his father Carl, Ben also grew suicidal. "He called me one night", said Carl, "and exhibited a side of him I had never seen. He cried like a baby when he talked to me. He was in tears through the whole conversation, his voice strained and breaking every time he pointed out his failures. He was always a sensitive kid, but he never allowed himself to let it show until that phone conversation. He had told me that he tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists because he didn't think that he could handle the hardships being dealt to him, and my heart just sank. I felt that sick feeling in my stomach and prayed that he would'nt fall victim to the 'Former Child Star' curse of the industry."

Ben and Ken weren't the only cast members going through a rough transition; There was also Gwen. A year youger than Ben, she had an easier time retaining her appearance because she aged differently than Ben did. But as she too went through her share of puberty, her body went through some degree of change as well. Her body frame changed, making her once-lean limbs a little more thicker. She was under intense pressure to lose weight in order to retain a more kid-like appearance. "It was hard for Gwen", said Grandpa Max. "They kept threatening to fire her and replace her if she didn't lose weight. She wasn't even big to begin with, just a tad more thicker. Her frame was begining to fill out as she was getting older. The producers didn't want their character's age to progress over the years, so she either had to stop gaining weight or lose her job."

During shooting of the 2006-2007 season, Gwen suffered from anorexia, refusing to eat anything, and depression. "We've tried to get her to a hospital", Grandpa Max says, "but she kept refusing. In between shooting scenes, she would hide in her trailer and lock the door so that no one could see what she's doing. She was also very depressed. Those producers put her through a lot of emotional distress, and no female, whether as a kid or as an adult should go throgh that type of pressure. The problem is that I see a lot of that going on in Hollywood too often." Eventually, under much pleading from her family, especially Grandpa Max, Gwen checked herself into a hospital in January of 2007 to get treatment for her eating disorder and has since then kept her required weight under a strict diet. "We had to show her that there are ways to getting around maintaining a certain weight without starving yourself", Grandpa Max said. "She was very sickly looking after shooting the final episode for the second season."

In Chapter III, you will learn about updates since the turbulent 2006-2007 season and what lies ahead for the future of the Ben 10 franchise. Coming soon...


	3. Chapter 3

Behind The Screens: Ben 10

Chapter III: Updates and the Forseeable Future

Over the years since its inception in 2005, the main cast of Ben 10 have been through ups and downs. Ben's puberty caused him to lose his title role, only to be replaced by his younger brother Ken, and leaving him to be downgraded from hero to villian. Gwen struggled with eating disorders after being heavilly pressured by show producers to maintain her weight in order to remain kid-like in appearance. And Ben's musical career didn't really pan out as he wanted it to.

Ben eventually got over his depression by keeping busy. "I've been writing a lot, and learning how to produce my own songs", says Ben. "It's important for me to keep busy. My dad once told me that an idle mind is a playground for the devil, and that's what happened to me when my fame seemed to crash down on me". Ben has recently made amends with Ken, and fired his agent Jake Greene, in whom Ben blames for his career going downhill. "Ever since I was let go from my main role, I've tried to get roles in other projects", says Ben, "but everyone still kept typecasting me as the 'sensitive, vulnerable' type. Any roles my agent did get me were the same type I've been pigeonholed into." His agent also wasn't very supportive of Ben's aspiring musical career. "He always had money on his mind", sighs Ben. "He was more interested in turning me into an action figure or putting me on lunchboxes than trying to pull strings for me on the musical side. I had to make the deals myself, and even Jake tried to control that. He even tried to tell me one day that I needed be a Rock musician instead of an R&B artist because he didn't think that the R&B/Urban genre wouldn't fit my 'image', and that was the last straw. After he said that, I fired him. My family represents me now."

Ben immediately signed with a conscious label named Afterthought Entertainment as the first R&B/Rock artist on the label, and released a self-produced single named "Define Love" in July of 2007 to mostly positive feedback. "I was definately happy with that deal", says Ben. "They allowed me to be myself and never tried the cookie-cutter effect on me just to make money." He is now working with them on his debut album on Afterthought Entertainment called "Multiple Personality". "I named my album 'Multiple Personality' for two reasons", says Ben. "It's a reference to my omnitrix on the show and a reference to my vocal skills. I'm mainly an R&B influenced artist, but I can perform in any other genre just as well." As of now, his album is TBD, but he has released a new single named "Struggle" on December 14th. "The song is more personal, more like a testimony of the things I've been through over the years", says Ben on his new single.

With the past behind him, Ben inked a new deal with Cartoon Network to create a new series focusing on a 15-year old Ben Tennyson named "Ben 10: Alien Force", due out in 2008, with Ben back where he feels he belongs. "I asked them, 'Am I finally going to be myself in the show again?' ", Ben says of his deal. "They've given me the concept for the show and it looked great, so I agreed." Gwen will also return alongside Ben for the new series. "I'm very excited about the new series", says Gwen. "This show is going to deal with a lot of mature issues, but at the same time be tasteful enough for younger viewers to learn from them."

Not forgetting about his past, Ben has also teamed up with Max and Gwen to start a foundation named "The Variable" to help combat modern-day racism all around the world. "I think it's important for people to see the good in every one", stated Ben on his foundation, "no matter what color or creed." He, along with Gwen and Max has created around five different public service announcements for the The Variable foundation which will air exclusively on Cartoon Network starting in early-2008.

With starring in a premiere TV show and embarking on a musical journey, one must ask will more fame and money equal more problems? "Only time will tell", says Ben optimistically. "Right now, I feel that the storm is over and the sun has shined on us once again. I can't predict what's going to happen after the new series and my new album drops, but I don't plan to anticipate anything negative happening."


End file.
